Title

Management of an Electronic Distribution's Subsidiary Operations and Its Relationship with an Organization's Strategic Plan

Author

Gerald Robison, Concordia University, St. Paul

Date

1999

Document Type

Capstone

Degree Name

Master of Arts

Chairperson (Advisor 1)

Dr. Kimora Kachelmyer

Reader (Advisor 2)

Dr. Richard Brynteson

Reader (Advisor 3)

Dr. Charles Nuckles

Abstract

Organizations with subsidiary operations face many unique obstacles in the implementation of a corporate strategic plan. A static strategic direction may not be appropriate for that have divisions that reside in culturally or geographically diverse locations. A corporation faces the possibility of defining its subsidiary operations by a plan that does not meet the needs or expectations of a marketplace if it does not take into account the diversities that may exist among different regions.

Strategic planning is a time-consuming and thoughtful process for most successful organizations. That process considers the organizational structure as well as the many other intricacies of its corporate operations but often neglects the remote locations in the effort to streamline the strategic plan. As many corporations evolve and find that they need to provide local support to many areas, it becomes necessary to consider the branch offices in strategic planning. Subsidiary operations are profit centers or service centers for most corporations. To maximize that profit or service, branch offices should be part of the strategic plan.

This paper attempts to uncover concerns among a group of managers responsible for the subsidiary operations in Minneapolis, Minnesota, of seven major electronic distribution organizations. A consensus was not achieved as to the most efficient method for an electronic distributor to successfully integrate the subsidiary operations into the strategic plan. The target group agreed that corporate interface is imperative to achieve the best possible understanding of the difficulties and differences faced by subsidiary locations and that this interface carry over to the strategic planning sessions. While there is no clear recommendation that an organization include all of their subsidiary locations the corporate strategic planning process, it is apparent that organizations need to address this diverse issues that their subsidiary managers must confront in order to maximize the efficiency of remote operations.

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